More German Grey

After a spurt of feverish activity in May, I had a bunch of German vehicles almost finished. Then they sat and collected dust for a while, to get that authentic weathered look. Finally, a guilty conscience and the need to clear the workspace prompted me to finish them.

First up, a gaggle of Sdkfz 221 and 222 armoured cars in mid-war dark grey. The models are Old Glory; the awkward screen cover for the turret was difficult to clean up and install properly, so my squadron have taken them off, the better to enjoy the Greek and Russian sunshine.

Dirt and dust were airbrushed on from low angles. I finally managed to get Vallejo Model Air colours to work for me; diluted about 80% with thinner and sprayed on for dirt.

Next up are a pair of StuG F models, again from Old Glory. Presumably there is a third model lurking in "the stash". Nice clean model, sharp details making them a joy to assemble and paint.

Still running with StuGs, a pair of D models from Battlefront, marked for Stalingrad. Aside from extensive dirt spray (on a roll with the thinned Vallejo paints), these also received heavy dusting with gray overspray, to give the impression of operations in an urban wasteland. Various areas around the hatches were cleaned of dust using a cotton bud and solvent before the paint had completely dried. The effect was quite nice, although somewhat understated. I'm being unusually wordy describing this dusting effect because it was mostly lost when I sprayed matt varnish over the finished models. Oh well, next time I will aim for garishly overstated effects before I apply varnish.

Lastly, for now, a lone early-war vehicle, a Panzer I Befehlswagon. This is another Old Glory model, the command vehicle that comes with two Panzerjaeger Is in their three-pack. This one is finished with dark brown camouflage, just for variety.

And now to finish the crew and stowage for a handful of halftracks and some 88s...